Pages

Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Review: Dearest Rogue (Maiden Lane #8) by Elizabeth Hoyt

HE CAN GUARD HER

Lady
Phoebe Batten is pretty, vivacious, and yearning for a social life
befitting the sister of a powerful duke. But because she is almost
completely blind, her overprotective brother insists that she have an
armed bodyguard by her side at all times-the very irritating Captain
Trevillion.

FROM EVERY DANGER

Captain James Trevillion is
proud, brooding, and cursed with a leg injury from his service in the
King's dragoons. Yet he can still shoot and ride like the devil, so
watching over the distracting Lady Phoebe should be no problem at
all-until she's targeted by kidnappers.

BUT PASSION ITSELF

Caught
in a deadly web of deceit, James must risk life and limb to save his
charge from the lowest of cads-one who would force Lady Phoebe into a
loveless marriage. But while they're confined to close quarters for her
safekeeping, Phoebe begins to see the tender man beneath the soldier's
hard exterior . . . and the possibility of a life-and love-she never
imagined possible.

Lady
Phoebe Batten has been living under a rock and not by choice. Her brother, the Duke of Wakefield, has kept her close to home because she's his little sister and because she is blind. He wants to protect her and keeping her close (and under guard) is the only way he can think to accomplish that task. Phoebe sees things a bit differently. She resents her guards, she resents not being able to do things on her own and she doesn't understand why her brother is so very protective of her. But thank goodness her brother IS that protective because Phoebe's guard, Trevillion, saves her life and then Phoebe finds herself not resenting the protection quite as much ... as long as it is only Trevillion is the only one guarding her.

I've long been a lover of these bodice rippers. I can't seem to get enough of them. I've read one other book by Elizabeth Hoyt and so I knew what to expect ... well written characters, a thought out and full plot and a story that I would be drawn to. That's exactly what I got and I wasn't disappointed in the least with this one. The characters were sweet ... you can't help but love Phoebe and the strange thing is ... I felt absolutely no sadness at her blindness. You know how you may not feel bad for someone but you are empathetic to their situation? I didn't even have that ... Phoebe is a strong character and it would be a disservice to feel sorry for or empathetic towards her in any capacity. The character herself will just not put up with that. She was written as a strong leading lady and that is exactly how she came across. I really enjoyed getting to know her within these pages. I also loved Trevillion ... he may not be my absolute favorite hero but I liked him. I thought that he balanced Phoebe out and it made for a sweet story without any hitches.

The storyline was interesting and pretty quickly paced. Historical Romance novels are usually just a tad ... descriptive and sometimes very long winded. I caught a whiff of that in the middle of this one ... the descriptions became just a little too long, so since I'm incredibly impatient, I skipped ahead a bit. But it was just a paragraph or two and funnily enough, I found myself going back and reading those paragraphs anyway.

All in all, a pretty awesome book in a good series. I like how Hoyt brings past heroes and heroines back into each subsequent novel just to let us know that she hasn't forgotten about them. I really appreciate it when an author does that in a series. Anyway, I'll definitely check out other books by Hoyt in the future because she never disappoints.